“Get A Mac” ad drops generic Windows reference for Parallels

Apple's new "Get A Mac" ad, titled "Touch?" used to say in type at the bottom …

As we all know, Apple's new "Get A Mac" campaign has been making waves, both good and bad, since it started airing a couple of months ago on TV and making its rounds on the web. One of the more recent ads, titled "Touché" features our favorite two actors (the "Mac" and the "PC") bantering about how the PC can run Windows, but the Mac can run OS X... and Windows. The PC then declares "touché," to which the Mac decides that he is making improper use of the term since the PC had never made a point to begin with for the Mac to counter-point. Touché, Mac guy, touché.

Anyway. The "Touché" ad used to make note in small type at the bottom of the screen that in order for the snarky Mac guy—er, your Mac—to run Windows, that merely "Purchase of Windows XP required," which most people assumed to imply that Apple wanted you to use their own Boot Camp. However, the folks over at MacObserver have observed (*chuckle*) that the ad seems to have changed, with the reference in the ad changing from a generic "Windows required" message to Windows and Parallels! (MacObserver seems to believe that the ad originally said Boot Camp, but many readers disagree.) The Get A Mac website also has references to Parallels on it.

While it's always been well-known ever since Boot Camp was originally announced that Apple had plans to incorporate such technology into the next major release of OS X, Leopard, this new heavy pimping of Parallels is taking some of us by surprise. At the very least, the strong relationship seems to indicate some sort of partnership between the two companies, even if the partnership is only for mutual publicity, but it could possibly mean much more. It seems like Apple is pushing Parallels very heavily lately, even over Boot Camp, which makes some Mac fans wonder whether Apple may have a Parallels-like solution up their sleeves coming up soon. Some of our Ars staff, however, believes that to be untrue, as Apple doesn't often like to pimp non-Apple products (particularly software) unless Apple has no plans for duplicating their efforts. While many have wished for Apple to create their own virtualization software for Windows, perhaps Apple believes that Parallels has already done a bang-up job and thinks that the two companies can help each other out.

Do our readers have any thoughts as to whether Apple's infatuation with Parallels indicates partnership, or secret sabotage?